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Online bill paying

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
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I wondered what online bill paying services folks are using.

This morning I'm about to pay my electric bill. I currently use CheckFree for most bills.

But now, CheckFree is dropping service to many businesses. I still have it for my electric bill and about half a dozen other bills.

But for Chase Manhattan, I have to use the ChaseManhattan online service. For My Visa card, I now have to use the Visa online service. For Sears, same thing. Same for another half dozen accounts - you have to use their own online web payment system.

Having a dozen logins and passwords (which are all slightly different due to individual online account requirements), is a pain. And keeping track of online payments is another pain, as they're not "recorded" in any one place. Instead, I have to record each online transaction in my (nearly unused) checkbook, to know what's left in my current (funding) account.

How do you guys handle bill paying? Still writing checks? (Checks are easy to keep track of ...)

Or all bills in one online service?

Or all bills in multiple online services plus paper checks?

Or ...

I'm close to giving up the online services, and go back to writing paper checks which require postage - but are "all in one place" for record keeping.

Thanks.
:crazyeyes: Tom
 
Still writing checks here. (Actually, the wife handles that chore.)

Not going down without a fight! For all the reasons you mentioned; and then some!
 
I haven't written checks for bills in over 10 years, after I had 2 (a car payment and a cell phone payment) stolen out of the outgoing mailbox at the apartment I was living in.

My credit union has a great online payment system that is free and simple. They will pay *anyone* even if it means that they cut a paper check and mail it for you. Easy to track when they've cleared, no need to wait and hope the mail gets there on time.

As for tracking it all, I use a program called MoneyWell on my Mac (used to use Quicken). I was a bookkeeper in a former life, and I'm *very* picky about home finance -- learned accounting from my grandmother and mother. Decent software allows me to schedule recurring bills so I won't miss one, and I can see all my balances and my budget (yes, I use a budget and love it). I can also use my bank's online tools to check balances and see what has cleared through my accounts. Once a week I enter all my receipts for the week, pay any bills, and verify everything online. Takes maybe 1/2 hour a week.

I'll add that I have only one credit card and it's with my credit union. I don't keep other accounts (other than the mortgage) with anyone else -- don't care about all the little deals and points and such, as I'd rather have financial simplicity and the credit union has been great to deal with for the last 16 years that I've been a member.
 
I pay all my bills on-line through my bank. I've been doing this for a long time. Can't imagine writing a check and using the mail system. Never used the individual bill pay, i.e. DirecTv, utility,etc. My bank is Wells Fargo and it works well for me.
 
Same here- My credit union has a service that pays anyone. Electronic payments make it quicker than then ones the service cuts checks for.... but a little planning- no troubles. I barely mail anything anymore.


m
 
Thanks gents. I'd stick to single-payer online, but I still haven't found one (including my bank) that pays *everyone*. Some accounts actually require that I pay either by paper check or by their own online system.

And if the kid next door is selling stuff for a school fund raiser, or the local hospital needs a donation, or I get my annual fuel oil bill, how do you use your online account for such? They can't be paid electronically. Seems I'd still need a paper payment system.

Decisions ... decisions ...

Tom
 
Tom when I put in a new payee I am asked to include the mailing address, account number and phone number. If the payee doesn't accept electronic payments, they will mail a bank check to them and it doesn't cost me anything. I have made donations and the like to entitities that have not said they accepted E-Pay but have still received the payment. I also pay those creditors that have their own system. I am also able to specify an amount to be paid monthly and when that payment is to be made. Nice when I go on vacation. If a utility bill, I simply estimate the amount. Now that I am using my Blackberry to view my accounts, I don't even have to know that anymore - I simply log on to the utility, get the amount and pay it all with my Blackberry. Also use my I-Pad. Don't have to run with a laptop anymore.

Whew, didn't realize I was so dependent on my electronic devices. I've always maintained that I'm safer going to my bank via my puter and not in person. I don't know if it's just New Mexico, but bank robberies are very common. Also my mailbox, a cluster type with others, has been raided on several occassions. Which also brings me to receipt of invoices or payments - all most all are via e-mail with very few exceptions.

I'm done. tee,hee
 
Thanks Judy.

So you can use your bank's online payment system to pay accounts for companies which have their own online payment system?

Several of mine actually dropped out of the bank's system (the "big" online payment system) and now require me to use either paper checks or their own online system. What a pain to get email "bills" from a company, then have to log in to their own system to pay the account. The payment doesn't show up on my own bank's system until actually paid, so I never really know what my current unencumbered bank balance is. Try balancing your account every month when the payments aren't all visible in the same system.

oy

Tom
 
Luckily for me, my wife does all of that. I earn it, she spends it. Well, what's left after car stuff......
 
I use the bank's on-line system for my mortgage, credit cards (including Sears), lawn care, and such, but for things like registration for car shows, local charities, paying a friend for tickets to events, etc. the old-fashioned check still works best for me...
 
A lot of my patients pay their bill with me with fresh eggs, tomatoes and sometimes jumbo shrimp. I have even gotten lump crab meat and recently some alligator tenderloin. Yum !


Otherwise, we take cash or checks.


I still write checks for everything. We don't even take credit or debit cards.
 
All my personal and business bills are paid online. I don't remember the last time I wrote a check for a bill payment.

I even pay my mole guy thru my bank
 
NutmegCT said:
So you can use your bank's online payment system to pay accounts for companies which have their own online payment system?
Click to expand...

I've used my credit union's online system to send money to my mom. Like with Judy, I set up a "bill" with a name and address, and the credit union will mail them a check if they don't accept an online transfer.

NutmegCT said:
The payment doesn't show up on my own bank's system until actually paid, so I never really know what my current unencumbered bank balance is. Try balancing your account every month when the payments aren't all visible in the same system.
Click to expand...

This is why I use a separate system on my local computer to track all my spending and such. I know more about my money (what's owed, what I have, what's outstanding) than any single institution ever will. Small amount of effort on my part and I always know what's going on.
 
Thanks Drew. Do you have to enter all your online transactions into your accounting software (MoneyWell) to track them? Or does MoneyWell download the online transactions automatically?

Tom
 
I'm with Judy. Wells Fargo bill pay for everything except the gardener. I can add anyone to it. Some companies will send an electronic bill to WF and some, like property taxes, I just add the address and parcel number to the bank's data base and when it's time to pay, I fill in the amount and they send a paper check.

I then download transactions into Quicken periodically.
 
That's one thing I haven't got the hang of yet.
The one time I tried to DL to Quicken it went Furar. So I gave up on that
 
NutmegCT said:
Thanks Drew. Do you have to enter all your online transactions into your accounting software (MoneyWell) to track them? Or does MoneyWell download the online transactions automatically?
Click to expand...

MoneyWell (as well as most financial software) can download transactions from most banks. I choose to do them all by hand, as I prefer to do it that way so that I'm absolutely sure as to what goes into my records. I use the bank information just to confirm that things have cleared.

I sit down every Sunday after we get home from the grocery store and spend a 1/2 hour or so entering receipts and paying bills and such. I find it therapeutic, but maybe I'm strange that way.
grin.gif
 
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